The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam

Robert S. McNamara's memoir ‘In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam' offers an explanation of McNamara's handling of the Vietnam War as Secretary of Defense during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. McNamara's goal directed as well as logico-mathematical approach to decision-making must be blamed for the failure of the US to stop North Vietnam from winning the war. Bloodshed would have been evaded if merely McNamara had looked at the probable outcome of his decisions on Vietnam. What appears from pages of this book are mechanics of a machine closed in on itself.It digested just the information that suited its version of reality or served its bureaucratic interests. It unnoticed discordant views, reorganized unlikable facts as well as, when proved wrong, simply redoubled its efforts. It was a machine suited to a military colossus whose directors never doubted their premises or their capability to make reality symbolize the exercise of their power. The book is wr itten down in a manner that brings joy particularly to the hearts of the pacifist crowd even while they criticize him, as its confessions appear to justify their opposition to the war.That was Bill Clinton's self-satisfied response. Thus far the book is extremely superficial in its political analysis — signifying how far in over his head McNamara was in that job from the start. Certainly, it's high time that someone inquired our country's inclination of picking big-time industrialists for defense secretary on the theory that it's just a big management work. Sometimes the job needs a lot more than management talent: deliberate understanding and judgment, which McNamara without a doubt never had.In justice to McNamara, his long silence had an admirable cause. Given the national shock that Vietnam brought, he feared that any apologia would be expedient and inappropriate. This caginess renowned McNamara from egregious former colleagues for instance Clark Clifford, Averell Harrima n, as well as Cyrus Vance, who within months of leaving office were attacking the Nixon Administration with peace proposals also demands for concessions to the North Vietnamese.The end of McNamara's book in brief touches non-Vietnam matters — particularly the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and the Harvard conferences he has lately attended, which brought together Soviet, American, as well as Cuban veterans of that crisis. The malice of such conferences is established by the breast-beating wrapping up of McNamara and some further Americans that it was our entire fault: Khrushchev put missiles in Cuba for the reason that he feared we were planning one more Bay of Pigs.Suffering regarding that brush with nuclear tragedy has led to another of McNamara's recantations his vigorous anti-nuclear activism, proceeding proposals for disarmament and no-first-use of nuclear weapons. He has championed this reason with the same sanctimonious obstinacy with which he once sold us the body counts a nd wunderkind strategizing in Vietnam, and with which he at present proclaims his confessions of our Vietnam errors. He possibly will never get it right. (Kevin Hillstrom, Laurie Collier Hillstrom, 1998). DEVELOPMENT OF THEMEThis book â€Å"In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam† is barely likely to assuage that cynicism. Certainly, it will most likely reinforce it. For what it exposes is a leadership class so in thrall to power, so persuaded of its own intellectual superiority, so cut off from, and even disdainful of, the wider society it has been empowered to serve, that it was eager to sacrifice virtually everything to evade the stigma of failure. The usefulness of McNamara's book is in the description of that trickery and of that failure.Much of the documentation has long been accessible in the Pentagon Papers, which he commissioned soon before leaving office, and which were leaked to the press by Daniel Ellsberg in 1971. However there is something to be erudit e in hearing it from such a highly placed participant. Nevertheless, no one else, at such a level of influence–not Johnson, or McGeorge Bundy, or Walt Rostow, or Henry Kissinger or Richard Nixon–ever openly admitted error or accepted blame. McNamara has at least broken the wall of silence.And even though he remains protective and largely uncritical of his colleagues, including the most imperceptive, the picture that appears is not one to motivate confidence. What this account noticeably discloses is that at no time did officials in either the Kennedy or Johnson administrations ever seriously think about anything less than an enduringly divided Vietnam with an anti-communist government in the south. The North Vietnamese, for their part, never measured anything less than a unified nation under their, i. e. communist, control. No one was in any doubt about this.The problem was that the Americans were persuaded that by inflicting unbearable pain they could force Hanoi to d esist however they were wrong. It was their country, not ours. In the end it was we who withdrew in the face of unbearable pain. Why did three successive administrations think that Vietnam was so imperative? First, there was the domino theory, which decreed that if Saigon fell to communism, the rest of Southeast Asia would shortly follow. Kennedy himself authorized it. When asked in 1963 by a television interviewer whether he doubted the correspondence, he answered, â€Å"No, I believe it. â€Å"Second, there was confronting of communist-led â€Å"wars of national liberation. † As nuclear weapons had made war too risky between America and Russia, the conflict transferred to the Third World, where a host of impecunious, ex-colonial nations looked up for grabs. Did it matter whether these were communist or anti-communist despotisms? Almost certainly not. Although there was nowhere else the competition could occur, and so there it raged. Vietnam turned into a test case. Third, there was the well-known supposition that Beijing was taking its marching orders from Moscow, and calling the shots in Hanoi.The truth that China and Russia were already disputing publicly and that the Vietnamese had historically viewed the Chinese as their greatest enemy made no impact whatever on U. S. policymakers. It did not fit into their worldview. Fourth, the world's greatest military power was not going to confess failure, least of all against what Johnson once mentioned as a â€Å"piddling, piss-ant little country. † It was too mortifying even to contemplate. Beyond all this there was one more reason that neither Kennedy nor Johnson, once the United States so carelessly slid into Vietnam, could easily get out.The Democrats were the party, in accordance with the Republicans, who had â€Å"lost† China to communism. They were definitely not going to offer more fodder for their foes in Vietnam. As Truman had pushed above the thirty-eight parallel in Korea to illu strate that he was tougher on communism than the Republicans, so Kennedy and Johnson felt they dare not lose Saigon to the Reds. This is why the assumption, here thoughtfully echoed by McNamara, that Kennedy would have pulled out of the war had he lived, appears wishful thinking.Kennedy fans, including McNamara, time and again cite the president's much-quoted September 1963 statement regarding Vietnam that â€Å"in the final analysis, it is their war. There were, certainly, ways out all along, had anyone wanted to follow them. One opened up in the fall of 1963, when Ngo Dinh Nhu, Diem's influential brother, started secret contacts with Hanoi. Sensing a possibility for a deal akin to the arrangement previously worked out over Laos, French President Charles de Gaulle suggested the amalgamation and neutralization of Vietnam.However the Americans saw this as an intimidation somewhat than an opportunity. Second-level officials in Washington plotted with the Saigon embassy and South Viet namese army officers to conquer Diem and replace him with a government more resolute to fight the war. Kennedy could not make up his mind whether or not to endorse the coup. It came anyway in November, ending in the assassination of Diem and Nhu. Three weeks later Kennedy himself was murdered. McNamara now articulates that would have been a good moment to leave.However at the time he recommended the newly installed Johnson that impartiality was unthinkable for the reason that â€Å"South Vietnam is both a test of U. S. determination and particularly a test of U. S. capacity to deal with wars of national liberation. † This was our war and the Vietnamese were not going to be permitted to get in the way. At present McNamara confesses that â€Å"we erred seriously in not even exploring the neutralization option. † Although at the time there was no way officials would have discovered it, given their view of the stakes at issue.This was a war they were resolute to win, even against their reputed South Vietnamese allies. So far McNamara cannot bring himself to accept the noticeable insinuations of what he is so undoubtedly saying. He wants to convince us, and conceivably himself, that it is all a problem of management. In other words, he is still the bureaucratic organizer who thinks that all troubles can be reduced to flow charts and statistics McNamara informs us that as early as the fall of 1965 he had doubts regarding the value of the bombing in breaking Hanoi's will or reducing the flow of supplies into the south.Sporadically he espoused bombing pauses with the argument that this might influence Hanoi to negotiate. This was a wan expectation, as he was never ready to negotiate what Hanoi sought: a withdrawal of the United States from South Vietnam and communist representation in Saigon. By the fall of 1967 he had lost his value: the Joint Chiefs and the hawks in Congress were infuriated by his antagonism to sending more troops and extending the bom bing, whilst Johnson considered him undependable and feared that he might join Robert Kennedy's camp.He was pushed out the door with a golden handshake as well as the presidency of the World Bank. However it was all done in a spirit of good fellowship and mutual congratulation, together with an overenthusiastic letter of appreciation he wrote to Johnson that he here reproduces. â€Å"I do not know to this day whether I quit or I was fired,† he says of his departure. This was consistent with his not knowing whether he measured the war to be wrong or just badly organized. Certainly he left silently. Almost all of them do. If he felt the war was so â€Å"awfully wrong,† why did he not leave in protest and take his case to the public?20,000 Americans died in Vietnam on his watch, and almost another 40,000 died, along with millions of Vietnamese, after his departure. Did he be in debt something to them? Not it seems that as much as he owed to Johnson, and most probably to N ixon too. It â€Å"would have been a violation of my responsibility to the president and my oath to uphold the Constitution† to have publicly protested the war, he explains. Whereas the Constitution says not anything regarding muzzling public officials after they leave office, it is right that complainers are hardly ever asked to come back and play one more day.Would it have made a difference if McNamara had openly turned against the war? One cannot be certain. It might or might not have ended the war sooner. However it would have justified those who protested against or refused to battle in a war they considered morally wrong, and it might have saved the lives of some of those who went to Vietnam for the reason that they thought that their country wanted to send them there for fine reason. Regardless, the assurance of making a difference is not the issue. We often cannot be certain of the outcome of our actions when we undertake them.We either do something since we think it is right, or we decide not to do it. McNamara privileged what he supposed to be his duty to Johnson above what many others, but in fact not he, would consider his responsibility to his country. He can live with that, although he must not expect our appreciation. We can be glad that McNamara wrote this book without admiring the man or sanctioning his elusions. He had an opportunity to redeem himself for a war he felt to be wrong. However those opportunities came almost 30 ago, and at present it barely matters.What is constructive regarding this elusive book is the terrible picture it represents of men caught in the prison of their own narrow suppositions and of their bureaucratic roles. These were men who knew that their strategies were not working, that their actions were driving ever-deeper divisions within the country that they were losing the admiration of several of those whose opinions they most appreciated. And thus far they persevered. Or else they shuffled out without a soun d, like McNamara, and found other ways of trying to change the world and of trying to redeem themselves.McNamara was not unaware to what was happening. In his memo to Johnson of May 1967 quarrelling against a planned major intensification in the war, he wrote: There may be a boundary beyond which several Americans and much of the world will not allow the United States to go. The picture of the world's utmost superpower killing or critically injuring thousands noncombatants a week, whilst trying to pound a tiny backward nation into submission on a subject whose merits are fiercely disputed, is not a pretty one.He was sensitive at least to the bad public relations of the killing, and he acknowledged that the supposed merits of the war were â€Å"hotly disputed. † Nevertheless within the hothouse where Johnson and his advisers met to orchestrate the war, it was merely methods, never eventual aims that were questioned. There was fighting in the streets and good manners in the war room. McNamara's book presents a sense of how divorced the two realms were from one another. The planners were locked into the academic concepts of â€Å"credibility† and the mechanics of graduated intensification.Although he had doubts regarding the effectiveness of the methods, he never questioned the assumptions. In his defense McNamara makes the amazing complaint that, because of the McCarthy hysteria of the early 1950s, â€Å"our government lacked experts for us to consult to recompense for our unawareness† of Southeast Asia. True, numerous Asian experts had been driven from the government for envisaging that Chiang Kai-shek was doomed. However they had not moved to Mars. There were telephones then. They were keen to talk to anyone who would listen.Hence were other considerate and outspoken critics of the war: scholars for instance John Fairbanks and Hans Morgenthau, columnists for example Walter Lippmann, former diplomats for instance George Kennan. In 1966 Sena tor Fulbright, smarting at having been snookered by Johnson over the Gulf of Tonkin, sponsored weeks of hearings in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, offering a forum for a broad range of experts to inspect the premises and outcomes of American policy. Nowhere in his book does McNamara make reference to these hearings, and hardly at all to outside critics.The delirious arguments over Vietnam all the way through the country appear never to have infiltrated the glass bubble of the war room. EVALUATION OF THEME McNamara stayed silent regarding Vietnam, repudiating all interviews until 1994, when he wrote his memoirs. The book–In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam–ignited a firestorm of argument upon its release and turned into a national bestseller. Even though McNamara confessed in the book that he had been wrong on the subject of Vietnam, that the United States should never have become involved there, his belated confession did little to endear him to the American people.The book elevated the ire of veterans' groups, who blamed McNamara of trying to profit from a war that, in their minds, he had started and that had caused so much anguish. Too much blood was on his hands, they said, for him to try to make money off the war. McNamara's assertion, in his memoir In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam, of having been â€Å"terribly wrong† regarding rising the war revive an old query often on the minds of young people at present: Would the U. S. have lost the war in Vietnam had Kennedy lived? The easiest answer is: We cannot know; history happens merely one way.The more intricate answer is: most likely not. We must not forget the significance of the Cold War and containment. Just as Kissinger's predictions that the United States would split itself apart over Vietnam did not come to pass, the cause behind American involvement in the war turned out to have been intensely flawed. The position of the United States in the world was not so shaky and that of the Soviet Union and other revolutionary movements not so prevailing that an earlier communist victory in Vietnam would have altered the effect of the Cold War.We are familiar with this now, and many people came to doubt the significance of U. S. involvement in Vietnam as the war went on. Thus far given the depth of leaders' commitment to the principles of suppression, it is hard to think that the United States would not have contributed the way it did in Vietnam, at least until 1968. (Kevin Hillstrom, Laurie Collier Hillstrom, 1998). Without a doubt the enthusiasm with which people long for a hero to have lived and saved them from the tragedy of Vietnam makes known how poignant a wound the war left.When McNamara spoke at Harvard University in the spring of 1995, observers noted how Vietnam appeared to have taken place merely yesterday for the people in the audience over forty. Their feelings were raw. For many, McNamara was a figure out of the pa st. Ernest May, one of the country's leading diplomatic historians, gave the most dispassionate elucidation of why he thought McNamara was wrong to have asserted that Kennedy would not have become as intensely involved as Johnson.McNamara appeared to have forgotten the influential spell of the Cold War. It was as if, May noticed, a Crusader wrote his memoirs without mentioning Christianity. However McNamara maintained his usually cool reserve all through the entire controversy. Reference: Kevin Hillstrom, Laurie Collier Hillstrom (1998). The Vietnam Experience: A Concise Encyclopedia of American Literature, Songs, and Films; Greenwood Press

Public Health of the Developing Country of South Africa Essay

Abstract Studies and statistics have put the cost of one year requirement of standard essential medicines needed for the treatment of AIDS at $ 4000 to $ 6000 in developing countries like South Africa. This cost puts the medicines out of the reach of most of the people infected by HIV in the developing countries. In order to make the medicines available to all the needy people the cost should have been at least 95 percent less. The exorbitant price is because of the cost of the patents. The drugs protected by the intellectual property rights were required to treat diseases like Tuberculosis, in addition to the treatments of HIV/AIDS. Such drugs also included Hepatitis-B Vaccine. There has been a continuous criticism by the social activists and other public health associations, of the action by the World Trade Organization in making the developing countries implement the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement which deals with the protection of Intellectual Property rights relating to the essential drugs. They have also been condemning the attitude of the multinational companies in indulging in excessive lobbying to insist on the implementation of the IP rights protection which will have the effect of enhancing their earnings by charging exorbitant prices for the drugs and for putting the essential drugs and health care beyond the affordability of scores of people in the developing nations including South Africa. However under such circumstances the relationship between the government of South Africa and the international pharmaceutical companies had not been a conducive one – thanks to the implementation of the provisions of TRIPS Agreement. On the decision of the South African Government to pass the Medicines and Related Substances Amendment Act in the year 1997, 39 drug companies joined to initiate legal action against the government. The plea of the drug companies is that the Act gave too much freedom of action to the Health Minister and he acted beyond the legitimate interpretation of TRIPS. It was the endeavour of South Africa to make life saving drugs available at affordable prices. The country wanted to effectively utilize the compulsory licensing opportunities opened by TRIPS so that the prices of the drugs could be put under check. But since the action of the government posed a threat to the earning capacity of the international pharmaceutical companies they went to the extent of entering into litigation with the government of South Africa. Introduction TRIPS (Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) under the authority of the WTO were founded to protect worldwide intellectual property rights. The agreements, governing not only more general intellectual property rights but also those of the pharmaceutical industry, are fairly stringent causing many problems for developing countries especially South Africa which is being ravaged by epidemics which includes AIDS. According to a statistical survey by United Nations[1] 20 percent of the adult population in South Africa tests positive for HIV. The impact of the disease is such that the more than half a million children have been declared orphans. It is also reported that HIV/AIDS related diseases expect to reduce the average life expectancy in South Africa by 20 years in the year 2010. Therefore it can be inferred that the provision of treatment of HIV/AIDS in South Africa is a high priority issue[2]. It has been necessary for South Africa to circumvent part of the TRIPS agreements in an effort to protect its population.   AIDS is taking great toll of the country leaving families without parents and health care hospitals totally unable to cope. The United States currently insists on the TRIPS agreement being strictly adhered to and seems unable, or unwilling, to find a way to help the developing nations with this problem. There have been some efforts made to help them in this respect, for example compulsory licensing and parallel pricing and these methods will be examined in a later section. The negotiation of the TRIPS Agreement has been construed as one that was forcibly introduced by the developing countries against the objection of many of the developing nations. The industrial lobbies (multinational and transnational corporations) have convinced the governments of the developed countries to link the international trade with Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) so that the industrial advancement of the developing countries would be curtailed. This would automatically prevent imitation of technologies and increase the returns on research and development for the developed countries. Monopoly rights granted under IPR were mainly intended to deter the developing countries from advancing on the industrialization. Thus TRIPS Agreement and the protection of IPR have been used to ensure the comparative advantage of the developed countries in terms of the technological development. Under TRIPS countries like India, Brazil which manufactures generic medicines would not have the right to export such medicines with effect from 01 January 2005. This is so despite the fact that the importing countries do have the respective patents covering the drugs. Specifically the least developing countries have put a strong resistance to the requirements of TRIPS especially in the matter of granting the protection rights for the products and processes. While developing countries were required to implement the provisions within one year of reaching the Agreement, the developing countries were given time until the end of the year 2004. In the matter of protection of rights of pharmaceutical products the lease developing countries have been allowed to delay the implementation of TRIPS Agreement provisions till the year 2016. The peculiarity with the provisions of TRIPS is that it allows any country to override the patent right under certain specific circumstances by using the compulsory licensing procedure. For instance when there is a shortage of drugs or the prices of the drugs are too high to make them unaffordable the country can override the patent if the prescribed procedures are followed. This provision of TRIPS presupposes that all the countries do possess the required manufacturing facilities which enable them to use the provisions to produce generic medicines under extraordinary circumstances. But unfortunately many of the developing and least developing countries do not posses such facilities, and hence they would be left with shortage of such drugs. In addition they are also not allowed to import the generics from those countries that possess them. In any case these countries do not have enough power and administrative capabilities to invoke the TRIPS Agreement either due to the reason that they do not possess the know-how required to reengineer the drugs or they fear sanctions from the US and the West[3]. TRIPS Agreement under WTO The TRIPS Agreement is often thought of as one of the three â€Å"pillars† of the WTO (World Trade Organization), trade in goods and services being the other two.[4] TRIPS, initially part of GATT. But becoming part of the WTO brief, was founded to ensure that protection of intellectual property rights was not, of itself, an obstruction to trade and to increase cooperation between members. Under the TRIPS agreement each member state has an obligation to treat all other member states equally. The WTO negotiates between members and helps them to understand and carry out the rules and regulations they have signed up to. It also aids cooperation between members and acts as a watchdog to ensure that the agreement is adhered to. Marketing rights of a patent, when first applied for, are given for a period of 5 years or until the patent is finally approved (whichever is the shorter period) but even during this period members must comply with the rules and regulations as set out in Articles 3 and 4. Because of the nature of the agreement especially as regards pharmaceuticals, it was decided that minimum standards could be used, the USA prefers the higher standards but accepts the minimum as the developing world does not have the capacity to work to the higher standards at the present time. Public awareness of the serious issue of AIDS and other diseases has led to the belief   (by the WTO) that health must, in the final analysis, come before agreements since the spread of AIDS cannot be the sole responsibility of one country. In trying to bridge the gap between the pharmaceutical companies and the developing nations, TRIPS has endeavoured to bring the two sides together by allowing extensions to drugs’ patents but has also allowed some compulsory licensing. Article 3(a) under the TRIPS Agreement states that treatment of all members must be equal,   but Article 3(b) is a get-out clause and Article 4(b) states that all members are equal, unless an †¦agreement was entered into before the WTO agreement.   However, the Council for TRIPS must be informed of any non-observance of Article 3(a) under Article 3(b). The TRIPS Agreement ensures that members discharge their commitments to the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). Part of the United Nations WIPO was set up in 1974 specifically to direct international treaties and agreements. The Paris Convention on Industrial Property and the Berne Convention on Copyright, two of the major treaties have been brought under the TRIPS umbrella.   The former states that â€Å"members must comply with the obligations they have towards each other† and â€Å"nothing must stand in the way of such obligations†.  Ã‚   However, as noted, there is a get-out clause in cases of emergency which has to be acknowledged by members to the agreements. There is also an agreement that member countries monitor each other for infringements.   Most important in terms of worldwide health problems is Article 67 of TRIPS which states   that developed countries must assist developing countries with the development of their intellectual property rights, it states: â€Å"In order to facilitate the implementation of this Agreement developed country Members shall provide, on request and mutually agreed terms and conditions, technical and financial cooperation in favour of developing and least-developed country members† â€Å"Such cooperation shall include assistance in the preparation of laws and regulations on the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights as well as on the prevention of their abuse, and shall include support regarding the establishment or reinforcement of domestic offices and agencies relevant to these matters, including the training of personnel.†Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Programmes to assist the developing nations have already been promoted and are being assisted by the WTO secretariat and WIPO. TRIPS Agreement in Relation to Medicines   Since most pharmaceutical research and development is carried out in developed countries the organisations involved feel that they should be better protected.   Most drugs cost millions and take years to test and develop before being allowed onto the market, the industry naturally want returns by way of profits on sales. AIDS medication has been a particularly important breakthrough since: ‘HIV infects an estimated 45 million persons worldwide†Ã‚   but there are also â€Å"†¦1.86 billion cases of infection with mycobacterium tuberculosis†[5] therefore, it is imperative that something be done to help alleviate this type of suffering which, with the ever growing number of tourists, should be the concern of not only those countries in which these epidemics are raging but every nation whose borders are open to travel from other countries. The TRIPS agreement, currently, seems to err on the side of the drugs’ companies, probably because they have such powerful lobbies and are part of the new world-wide elite of corporations which, according to Janet Dine, are increasingly importing their own ethics into the developing countries and virtually taking over, creating in the process an impoverished and unhealthy nation, they, the indigenous population have to take what is offered often at less than subsistence wages and become more dependant on the corporations who have moved into their countries in search of ever increasing profits. The money the corporations make from taking over in developing countries returns, not to the people of that region, but to their own countries.  Ã‚   With tax incentives and a population who take any work they can get to survive at the lowest rates offered, these Corporations appear to be fuelling a crisis in health for some of the poorest nations in the world.[6] Although The TRIPS agreement does allow for compulsory licensing in an emergency, each country must first negotiate with rights’ holders and must use those drugs obtained under such a license only for the emergency period and not for any commercial gain. Specific areas, such as South Africa, are going through a health crisis which needs the drugs already available to ameliorate it, however, in spite of clause 3(b), they are getting no further forward in their fight to help their citizens to overcome unprecedented death rates that the epidemics are producing. In spite of Articles 30/31, which allow for compulsory licensing, the poorest and least developed nations are fighting against the cost of the use of patents and the epidemics themselves. Compulsory licensing does not adequately cover the needs of such nations in   â€Å"sub-Saharan Africa since they do not have facilities to manufacture their own drugs.†[7] Protection of intellectual property is not part of the culture of many countries, nevertheless, the TRIPS Agreement was signed on 15th April 1994 by 117 nations. The agreement allows intellectual property rights to be â€Å"enforced by trade sanctions†[8] and, although some countries were not in complete agreement, international trade is vital to their economic growth so, however reluctantly, they signed.   Inhibitors, which have done much to control AIDS in the west, cost as much as $10.000 per head annually but international trade is the life blood of developing nations therefore they had little choice but to do so.[9] 4. TRIPS and Developing Countries It has been observed that implementing TRIPS Agreement and recognizing IPR on pharmaceutical products and processes would result in the following problems to the developing countries[10]: The minimum 20 years protection to the IPR would grant a virtual monopoly for a pharmaceutical company over its patented drug and the company would be able to charge exorbitant prices on the drugs without competition which in turn would keep the drug prices very high during the period of protection. It is also not possible to bring any generic equivalent into the market due to the TRIPS Agreement. This would deny the patients cheaper alternative drugs. The product and process patents provide for the protection of the product as well as the technology. Under the TRIPS Agreement the countries are given the right to make application for the protection of patent rights on drugs for a period extending up to twenty years. After the expiation of this period the countries can get the protection extended for further periods to the processes being employed in the manufacture of the drugs. This no doubt creates a monopoly situation on the drugs. Such protection also throw the domestic pharmaceutical producers in the developing countries out of market as they have to compete with large multinational pharmaceutical manufacturers which is not possible for small producers in the developing nations who use cheaper generic alternatives. Moreover such production may not be carried out by them during the 20 year protection period. Under TRIPS Agreement patent rights need to be granted irrespective of the fact that the products are imported or domestically manufactured[11]. This implies that the transnational corporations can supply global markets under the monopoly of patent rights even without producing any medicines in the developing countries by simply importing them into the developing countries. There will be no flow of technology or foreign direct investments into the developing countries as envisaged by the WTO However under Article 66 of the TRIPS the least developed countries were allowed to postpone the application of the provisions relating to the patents for a period of 10 years on specific application.[12] 5. Exceptions to the Patent Protection of Pharmaceuticals    Parallel importing – implying that the developing counties are allowed to import the drugs from the cheaper markets for resale in their respective countries and thereby lower the prices of drugs. Compulsory licensing – under compulsory licensing scheme, the government acting through the courts of law is empowered to provide a license in favor of a third party. Such license may be granted by the government even without the prior consent of the license holder. However the compulsory licensing can be resorted to in cases of national emergencies. The license may also be compulsorily transferred to a third party in case of an extremely emergent situation or where there are circumstances implying any anti-competitive movements by the manufacturers. The compulsory licensing is resorted to by the governments to make the drugs easily available to the poor and needy people at affordable costs. It also ensures that the patent holder is provided adequate compensation for use of the patent. 6. Public Health in South Africa and the Impact of TRIPS Agreement The need for cheaper drugs in South Africa can not be undermined. The impact of AIDS in the country poses the situation of an extreme emergency forcing the implementation TRIPS. The economy of South Africa is likely to get affected by a reduction of 1 percent every year because of the work force getting disintegrated. It is estimated that the life expectancy would be lowered to 50 years in 2010 from 70 years currently. These threats to the economy and population growth would as well be a threat to ‘peace and order’ situations in the country of South Africa[13]. In this context all the problems enumerated above for the developing nations have been faced by South Africa also. In addition when the government wanted to implement the Medicines and Related Substances Control Bill, the US Government vehemently objected to the passing of the law which allowed for parallel importing and compulsory licensing. However amidst lot of pressure on the government and the Parliament the South African government enacted the law in the year 1997.The pharmaceutical lobby backed by the transnational companies in the South Africa not only filed a suit against the promulgation of the law but also indulged in negotiations and threats   to the government to change its stand. The pressure was intense after the year 1997 when the South African government tried to implement a number of policy measures to lower the prices of drugs used in public health. â€Å"The SA policies have focused on such issues as mandatory generic drug substitution, restrictions on inappropriate marketing efforts, registration of generic versions of the cancer drug Paclitaxel (sold as Taxol by Bristol-Myers Squibb), parallel-imports, and compulsory licensing†[14]. It may be noted that despite Article 31 of the TRIPS Agreement that provides for the parallel importing and compulsory licensing the transnational pharmaceutical companies have vehemently opposed the attempts by developing countries like South Africa taking measures for implementing parallel importing and compulsory licensing as these practices would allow these countries to have their requirements of the medicines at cheaper prices which in turn would affect the profits of these transnational companies[15]. It was after the intervention of the AIDS activists and health activists that US came to an understanding in the issue. The government of South Africa insisted that it retains all the original provisions defending its position be retained. The government also wanted to make the fullest use of compulsory licensing and parallel importing which were considered as detrimental to the interests of the American Transnational Companies[16]. How American Corporations Control the Business World A- Business lobbies: Large and small businesses in the United States have been organised into various associations, for example Business Round Tables are national Associations which include membership of the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of all the most important trans-national companies and the National Chamber of Commerce includes all sizes of firms.[17] Round Tables have been in existence since 1972, the first was formed by forty-two of the (then) biggest and most important U.S. companies including banks, retailers, Insurance, transport and most of the utilities’ companies. They were designed to enable business to proceed without the destructive competitive basis of the business world. They were described as: â€Å"An association of chief executive officers who examine public issues that affect the economy and develop positions which seek to reflect sound economic and social principles. †¦ the Roundtable was founded in the belief that business executives should take an increased role in the continuing debates about public policy.†[18] The raison d’etre for these firms was the idea that ‘what ever is good for business is good for the American people’. They argued that, employees, purchasers, suppliers etc all have an interest in a business. These associations, they say, represent a cross section of the American public.[19] The idea that ‘what is good for business is good for America’ is patently nonsense since most people are in fact excluded from any rights in this elite world.  Ã‚   Employees have little or no say in the running of their firms and consumers must pay the prices asked, they do have the right ‘not to buy’ which is a somewhat negative view of the process of inclusiveness. David C Korten says that most of the memberships of the Round Tables are confined to white males over the age of 50 whose salaries are enormous. They do not, as claimed, consider that what is good for business is good for America but rather endeavour to maximise their own profits and those of their shareholders by seeking to globalise in areas where they can have an almost free hand to carry out their business practices almost unhindered by the laws of any country they move into. [20] Free Trade has long been an ideal of the American Corporate world which is why the Round Tables campaigned vigorously for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA and created USA-NAFTA to front their interests, the American public, nervous at so much control in so few hands, have been given country-wide blanket assurances through the media.   In spite of the fact that NAFTA was supposed to be a really broad church of interests it is really part of the elite Round Table Associations and has many representatives on advisory committees. The country might have been even more nervous if they had realised that at the time of the creation of these Round Tables the major companies were in fact laying aside their competitive differences to â€Å"reach a consensus on issues of social and economic policy for America†.[21] B- Influence of U.S. Democracy Janet Dine claims â€Å"no single idea is more deeply embedded in modern culture than the belief that economic growth is the key to meeting most important human needs, including alleviating poverty and protecting the environment† [22] which accounts for the greatest growth area in Washington being public relations firms. These firms work hard to protect the images of their corporate clients against a rising tide of discontent which is now manifesting itself throughout the world. It could be thought that they are fighting a losing battle but â€Å"the top fifty public relations firms billed over $1.7 billion dollars in 1991†[23] which gives rise to the question, why are these PR firms so necessary? There is probably no single answer to this question but very little news is given directly to the public without some corporate employee looking at the effect it will have, news and advertising, according to Korten, are almost synonymous.[24] The political system of America has greatly changed in the post war period of more general affluence. The Democratic party has lost its basic identity   the party of the people – as opposed to the Republicans who have always represented business and the wealthier side of the electorate – this being so the Democrats are far more dependant on the need to raise funds for their electioneering and have turned to the corporations who inevitably want quid pro quo for their donations. The mass media are heavily behind the elitist values of corporate America and the amount they are able to pay to PR firms to put across an extremely one-sided policy and both the leading parties needing the financial backing of corporate America, this, says David C Korten, â€Å"This is the sorry state of American democracy†.[25]   He says that voters tend to be seen as a passive homogeneous mass of potential customers who can be told not only what to buy but also what to think and feel.   What is worse, this idea of corporations is spreading, many trans-national companies rely heavily on the corporate idealism of what is good for them is good for the people they sell to.   Mexico and Japan both use those same American firms to tell their populations what they should think and feel and ultimately what they should buy. C- American Democracy   for Sale: â€Å"The Mexican government spent upwards of $25 million and hired many of the leading Washington lobbyists to support its campaign for NAFTA. †¦ Japanese corporations were spending an estimated $100 million a year on political lobbying in the United States and another $300 million building a nationwide grassroots political network to influence public opinion†. [26] Canada, Britain and the Netherlands’ governments employ public relations’ firms in America to help them lobby and draft laws that will be favourable to the business elites in their own countries. These companies try to sell the idea of ‘corporate libertarianism’ [27]which is supposed to allay the fears of those who have an idea that all is not well in the corporate world of business, it is possible to claim that these corporations are in fact in the act of ‘taking over the world’ and with the resources piling up behind them it could well happen in the not too distant future. The United States and Higher Levels of Protection. To add to this theme of a world take-over by corporate America, the signatories to TRIPS have begun to rethink intellectual property protection.[28] This is bad news for those under-developed countries which rely on drugs from the western world to protect their citizens from ravaging epidemics. Rosalyn S Park says: â€Å"Poor, developing nations have been most affected by the patent protection laws and resulting high drug prices, yet these nations also harbor the highest number of HIV-positive people. Consequently, the vast majority of people in need of HIV/AIDS medicines simply cannot afford them†. [29] In 2006 new protection laws will come into force which all members must adhere to. This will have a devastating effect on the millions of people in countries too poor to have their own drugs’ businesses, they will become more reliant upon those better protected, developed countries making vast profits from the countries least able to pay. Neither the USA nor the European Union appear greatly interested in aiding those countries with the greatest needs and the least ability to pay.   Admittedly concessions have been made as regards agricultural and textile concessions but this has been at the cost of allowing higher property rights which is a swings-and-round-a-bouts situation.   It would be much more useful to South Africa specifically and to the developing world in general, if the costs of patented drugs could be either brought down or, as a common sense gesture of good will, eliminated completely until such time as the AIDS epidemic was at least brought down to manageable proportions. In spite of â€Å"several different types of drugs on the market which help combat AIDS and AIDS related illnesses†[30] not enough are getting through to the developing countries as the multinationals are still insisting on not just the status quo as regards intellectual property rights but even higher levels.[31] They appear to be driven only by the profit motive and the perceived necessity for free trade paying little attention to the suffering caused in the developing world. Nor are they taking a long term view, highly contagious diseases are rife in the developing world, therefore, with the modern freedom of travel, no country can ever be safe from the same epidemics.   Even with modern drugs to combat them, new strains will develop, new drugs will have to be found and costs will escalate. Drugs now exist which allow people with AIDS to live a reasonably normal life including returning to work, it would in fact be in the interests of the drugs’ companies to allow South Africa to use them, dead people have no use for drugs nor anything else that the multi-nationals may wish to sell them. Conclusion The TRIPS Agreement was a milestone in patent protection of intellectual property rights and was considered to be a financial safeguard for research investment, however, it also had the effect of pricing some pharmaceuticals out of the reach of many nations most in need of the most recently patented medicines.   Before the TRIPS agreement, governments had been able to make compulsory licence orders to produce drugs at lower prices in their own countries, after the agreement, although still possible, it is much more difficult and thus more difficult to protect their citizens from the epidemics which are wreaking havoc in their countries. It is important to protect intellectual property rights but it is far more important to protect people’s lives but the balance currentlppears to be largely towards the greater protection of pharmaceutical industries. TRIPS allows compulsory licensing and parallel pricing but underdeveloped countries such as South Africa are being prevented from using them because of the threat of trade sanctions and trade is vital to their economies. It is necessary to protect peoples’ work and investment and research must be encouraged especially into life-threatening diseases. Corporations who invest time and money into producing drugs to cope with these scourges should reap the rewards of their labour.   However, many drugs’ companies are seeing such enormous returns on their investments that concessions should be made to underdeveloped countries which so desperately need the medications produced by these huge giants of industry. In spite of concessions in the TRIPS agreement, corporations do appear to be protected at the expense of people’s lives. Public health should be and is a priority in the west where governments can afford to buy the health of their citizens. Unfortunately, this is not the case in the poorer, less developed countries where governments are struggling to find ways to access drugs and yet to maintain a healthy trading relationship with the countries which hold the patents to these drugs. Good health is the basic right of every citizen of every country wherever possible. More goodwill is necessary on the part of the western world and America in particular to allow compulsory licensing and parallel pricing to be used without the threat of trade sanctions.  Ã‚   Epidemics do not respect borders, they can be carried by people to all corners the world, what was a third world problem yesterday is our problem today, world health is an issue that no country can ignore therefore although corporations must be allowed fair returns on their investments it must not be at the expense of world health. It is quite apparent that TRIPS Agreement has not taken into account the public health needs of the developing nations while formulating the clauses relating to the protection of IPR in respect of pharmaceutical needs. The Agreement has not specified any particular obligations towards those governments granting the IPR for pharmaceutical products. The Agreement has also not considered the need for public health in the developing countries and grossly ignored the interests of the patients of these countries. There are a number of factors that the developing countries have to take into account including the implication of the TRIPS Agreement and the patent protection under the Agreement in the provision of medical facilities and adequate public health to the people of the respective developing countries. â€Å"At the end of the day it must be recognized that the poorer residents of the world’s least affluent nations cannot pay even the marginal cost of drugs that might save their lives or permit them to become productive workers†[32]. Bibliography    Conceicao Soares (2007)‘The HIV/AIDS crisis and corporate moral responsibility in the light of the Levinasian notions of proximity and the Third’ Business Ethics: A European Review Vol. 16 No 3 p 280 David C Korten, When Corporations Rule the World, Earthscan Publication Ltd. London, p.144 Duane Nash, â€Å"†¦VI, Foreign & International Law South Africa’s Medicines and Related Substances Control Amendment Act of 1997† 15 Berkeley Tech. L J. 485(lexis) Fact Sheet ‘Developing Countries’ Transition Periods’ p1 F.M. Scherer and Jayashree Watal ‘Post-Trips Options for Access to Patented Medicines in Developing Nations’ Journal of International Economic Law (2002) p 939 Janet Dine, The Governance of Corporate Groups, Cambridge University Press, 2000.p.157 J H Reichman, The TRIPS Agreement Comes of Age: Conflict or Cooperation with the Developing Countries? P.6 John A. Harrelson, â€Å" IV. Note: Trips, Pharmaceutical Patents, and the HIV/AIDS Crisis: Finding the Proper Balance Between Intellectual Property Rights and Compassion† 7 Wid. L. Symp. J . 175(lexis) Kara M. Bombach ‘The South African Medicines and Related Substances Control Amendment Bill and TRIPS’ p1 Lisa Foreman (2007)‘Trade Rules, Intellectual Property and the Right to Health’ Comparative Program in Health and Society Munk Centre for International Studies University of Toronto Ethics & International Affairs Vol. 21 No3 p 342 Louise Sylvan ‘TRIPS: Protecting Intellectual Property or Putting Profits Before People’ Online Opinion    p1 Medecins sans Frontieres (1999) Access to HIV/AIDS medicines in Thailand, Medecins sans Frontieres Report to the National AIDS Committee of Thailand, August 1999, MSF website, www.accessmed-msf.org/msf/accessmed/accessmed.nsf/html/4DTS2? Open Document.p1 N.B. Zaveri (1999) ‘Success often comes to those who dare and act’, paper presented at Brainstorming Workshop on WTO Agreements and People’s Concerns, New Delhi, Oct/Nov 1999 p1 Patric Bond ‘US Policy toward South Africa and Access to Pharmaceutical Drugs’ Alternative Information and Development Centre p1 Ross Brennan and Paul Baines (2005) ‘Is there a morally right price for anti-retroviral drugs in the developing world’ Business Ethics: A European Review Vol. 15 No 1 p32 Rosalyn S Park, The International Drug Industry: What the Future Holds for South Africa’s HIV/AIDS Patients, Minnesota Journal of Global Trade, p.3 Z. Mirza (1999) ‘WTO/TRIPS, pharmaceuticals and health: impacts and strategies’, The Network’s Drug Bulletin, Sept-Dec 1999, Vol. 8, No. 5/6, Association for Rational Use of Medication in Pakistan p 27       [1] United Nations (2004) Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic. Geneva: United Nations [2] Ross Brennan and Paul Baines (2005) ‘Is there a morally right price for anti-retroviral drugs in the developing world’ Business Ethics: A European Review Vol. 15 No 1 p 32 [3] Conceicao Soares (2007)‘The HIV/AIDS crisis and corporate moral responsibility in the light of the Levinasian notions of proximity and the Third’ Business Ethics: A European Review Vol. 16 No 3 p 280 [4] www.wto.org (Frequently asked questions about TRIPS in the WTO). [5] Duane Nash, â€Å"†¦VI, Foreigh & International Law South Africa’s Medicines and Related Substances Control Amendment Act of 1997† 15 Berkeley Tech. L J. 485(lexis) [6] Janet Dine, The Governance of Corporate Groups, Cambridge University Press, 2000.p.157 [7] John A. Harrelson, â€Å" IV. Note: Trips, Pharmaceutical Patents, and the HIV/AIDS Crisis: Finding the Proper Balance Between Intellectual Property Rights and Compassion† 7 Wid. L. Symp. J . 175(lexis) [8] Ibid [9] Ibid [10] Z. Mirza (1999) ‘WTO/TRIPS, pharmaceuticals and health: impacts and strategies’, The Network’s Drug Bulletin, Sept-Dec 1999, Vol. 8, No. 5/6, Association for Rational Use of Medication in Pakistan p 27 [11] Medecins sans Frontieres (1999) Access to HIV/AIDS medicines in Thailand, Medecins sans Frontieres Report to the National AIDS Committee of Thailand, August 1999, MSF website, www.accessmed-msf.org/msf/accessmed/accessmed.nsf/html/4DTS2? Open Document. p1 [12] Fact Sheet ‘Developing Countries’ Transition Periods’ p1 [13] Kara M. Bombach ‘The South African Medicines and Related Substances Control Amendment Bill and TRIPS’ http://academic.udayton.edu/health/06world/africa01.htm p1 [14] Patric Bond ‘US Policy toward South Africa and Access to Pharmaceutical Drugs’   Alternative Information and Development Centre  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      p1 [15] Louise Sylvan ‘TRIPS: Protecting Intellectual Property or Putting Profits Before People’ Online Opinion p1 [16] N.B. Zaveri (1999) ‘Success often comes to those who dare and act’, paper presented at Brainstorming Workshop on WTO Agreements and People’s Concerns, New Delhi, Oct/Nov 1999 p1 [17] David C Korten, When Corporations Rule the World, Earthscan Publication Ltd. London, p.144 [18] Ibid [19] Ibid [20] David C Korten, When Corporations Rule the World, Earthscan Publication Ltd. London, p.144 [21] Ibid [22] Janet Dine, The Governance of Corporate Groups, Cambridge University Press, 2000.p.156 [23] David C Korten, When Corporations Rule the World, Earthscan Publication Ltd. London, p.146 [24] Ibid [25] David C Korten, When Corporations Rule the World, Earthscan Publication Ltd. London, p.147 [26] Ibid [27] David C Korten, When Corporations Rule the World, Earthscan Publication Ltd. London,pp.147-148 [28] Rosalyn S Park, The International Drugs Industry: What the Future Holds for South Africa’s HIV/AIDS   Patients, Minnesota Journal of Global Trade, 2002.p.1 [29] Ibid [30] Rosalyn S Park, Minnesota Journal of Global Trade, 2000, p.2 [31] J H Reichman, The TRIPS Agreement Comes of Age: Conflict or Cooperation with the Developing Countries? P.6 [32] F.M. Scherer and Jayashree Watal ‘Post-Trips Options for Access to Patented Medicines in Developing Nations’ Journal of International Economic Law (2002)   p 939

Illegal Imigrants Should Be Allowed Essay

This spring, approximately 2. 8 million high school seniors will graduate from various schools around the country. Many will continue their education at college; others will join the armed forces or take another path in life. However, a group of about 65,000 students will be unable to continue on their paths due to their status as illegal immigrants (Dream). Because of their status of illegal immigrants, it is extremely difficult for them to better their way of life. Therefore, illegal immigrants should be allowed to attend public universities. Illegal immigrants are already allowed to attend our public schools from the lementary level all the way through high school. The 1982 Supreme Court decision in Plyler v. Doe ruled that public schools are prohibited from denying immigrant students access to public schools (Plyler). The court found that undocumented children have the same right to a free public education and are obligated to attend school until they reach the age mandated by state law. Since then, many undocumented immigrants have passed through the public education system. Currently, it is believed that as many as 4. 9 million undocumented students are attending public schools (Immigration). However, it is difficult to know the exact umber because of their status as undocumented immigrants. One thing that is known for sure is the number will continue to rise, leaving more and more students with undecided futures after graduation. However, the ability for illegal immigrants to attend public universities has largely been left up to the states. Currently, South Carolina is the only state that prohibits illegal immigrants from attending public universities and colleges that receive state funding; although North Carolina and Alabama both prohibit undocumented people from attending community colleges (Coley). On the other end of the spectrum, nine tates including California, Nebraska, and Texas all offer in-state tuition to illegal immigrants (College). New Jersey is also in the process of deciding whether or not to offer in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. Although the states are the only ones to have passed legislation regarding undocumented immigrants attending public universities, there is legislation currently making its way through Congress. The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, also known as the DREAM Act, could bring about major changes. It was first introduced in 2007, but failed to make it past the Senate floor. Then this past spring, Senator Durbin from Illinois reintroduced the piece of legislation. Under the currently proposed DREAM Act, undocumented immigrant students would be given the opportunity to attend institutions of higher education and be able to obtain legal, permanent residency. According to the 2009 version of the Senate bill, DREAM Act beneficiaries must have proof of arriving in the United States before age 16 and live in the United States for five consecutive years since their date of arrival. They would also have to be between the ages of 12 and 35 at the time of bill enactment, btain a high school diploma, and have good moral character (Dream). Any opportunity to attend public universities and possibly achieve legal residency. This piece of legislation is expected to bring some heavy debate in the spring and could bring on some important changes if passed. One very important supporter for illegal immigrants attending institutions of higher education is the College Board. The College Board is made up of 5,000 schools and is best known for its SAT college admissions test. This past July, the board released a report citing a need for federal legislation that would provide in-state ollege tuition, financial aid, and legal status to many illegal immigrants in the United States (College). The report is the first time the College Board has spoken publicly about the issue. Undocumented immigrants should be given the right to attend public universities and colleges because we have a moral obligation to give them an equal opportunity to better their situation. Many of the undocumented immigrants that currently live in the United States were brought here by their parents. The children did not make the decision to enter the country illegally, their parents did. By not allowing illegal mmigrants to attend public universities, we are essentially punishing them for decisions they did not make. Also, undocumented immigrants are going to remain and live in the United States regardless of their ability to attend public universities. So if these undocumented immigrants are going to stay here, it makes sense economically to have them be productive as possible. The College Board report shows that with the ability for illegal immigrants to obtain a higher education and move into better paying Jobs, the economy would increase from increased tax revenue and consumer spending College). Additionally, if these undocumented immigrant students are paying for their college education, why not allow them the opportunity to further their knowledge. Under our current system, illegal immigrants are allowed to attend our public schools at no cost. But when these same illegal immigrants want to pay for a higher education, many of them are turned away because of their legal status. Plus, universities and colleges from all over the country already allow foreign exchange students to attend their universities. Here at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, pproximately 6 percent of the student body is from a foreign country (International). There is no controversy on whether or not to allow these students, who are not United States citizens, to attend our public universities. So if someone is willing to pay their way through college, they should be allowed to attend regardless of residency status. All of these reasons support the passage of the DREAM Act. As of today, it remains one of the last hopes for undocumented immigrants to obtain the right to attend public universities indefinitely. Although nine states have passed legislation allowing or in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants, states are increasingly moving towards not allowing them to attend public universities. Missouri and Virginia are currently considering a ban similar to South Carolina’s that would bar all illegal immigrants from attending public universities and colleges (College). So it is time now more than ever to stand up for undocumented immigrants’ rights. We have a public universities. One rebuttal often brought up in the discussion why illegal immigrants should not be allowed to attend public universities is they are breaking the law by being here in the United States. Although undocumented immigrants are breaking the law, it should not hold them back from furthering their education. Many illegal immigrants were brought here by their parents and did not make the decision to come here illegally. Illegal immigrants often spend close to their whole lives in the United States. Although they are still considered illegal in the eyes of the law, many are basically Americans because they have lived here for as long as they can remember. It is Just unfair to continue to punish someone for a decision they did not make. Another rebuttal often made against undocumented immigrants is the overnment is subsidizing an education for non-citizens because they do not pay taxes. The government already subsidizes an education from the high school level on down for everybody regardless of residency status. Also, many undocumented immigrants are unable to obtain residency status in the United States. The long, difficult process of obtaining American citizenship keeps many of these illegal immigrants from paying taxes. The current system we use for obtaining citizenship creates a continual cycle that does not allow for illegal immigrants to pay taxes. If it as easier for undocumented immigrants to obtain citizenship, more tax revenue would be brought in to subsidize their education. In conclusion, there are many factors to consider why illegal immigrants should be allowed to attend public universities. If they are paying their way through college like every other student, then they should be allowed to attend public universities. Plus, many of these undocumented immigrants are going to remain in the United States regardless of their ability to attend universities, so it makes sense to have them be productive as possible. It also does not make sense to punish someone because heir parents came into the United States illegally.

LASAApplying Cultural Theoretical Approaches Coursework

LASAApplying Cultural Theoretical Approaches - Coursework Example Stable countries have more elites hence an expanded consumer pool than unstable ones. Governments oriented to upgrading the lives of their citizens create business environments in which foreign investors can venture into hence building the economy. It is evident that the best economies reside in countries with good governance and democracy (Hwang, Seiler & Seiler, 2005). The legal framework of a country determines its position economically. Rigid retrogressive legal frameworks derail investments and deprive a country of economic growth. States with suitable legal frameworks benefit from revenue generation from investment and realize better economic growth. The flexibility of the social and cultural trends of a given population determines the ease of setting up investment projects within the population. Some cultures are so primitive and cannot fit in the contemporary economic competition. For instance, a culture that prohibits education of one gender is retrogressive and fails to discover the potential of education for all. Such populations remain economically poor while those accepting change enjoy massive economic gains (Telycote, 2008). Some economies are more endowed than others through various ways. Developed nations are endowed with fine technologies, better infrastructures, and education while less developed ones lack or enjoy limited of these. Others are endowed with huge riches in minerals and agriculture. Such endowed economies enjoy better economies while the rest languishes in poverty. Technological advancement is another aspect of the global economy of today. Developed countries possess fine technologies useful in driving their economies forward. Such countries are making huge revenues from such technologies, and they are also able to solve various economic challenges. In the last decade, global warming has been the topic with several catastrophic effects felt on several

Ethics of Care and Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ethics of Care and Justice - Essay Example Finally, Held perceives people as being â€Å"relational and interdependent, morally and epistemologically† just like the morals of responsibility (Held 148). This is mainly because the theory put forward mainly perceives humans as being individualistic. On the contrary, the morals of justice differ from the morals of care since it emphasizes on the issues of fairness and human rights unlike the latter which emphasizes on the individuals emotions (Walls, p.176). It does not emphasize on handling the individual emotions but on promoting fairness despite the emotions attached to the issue under consideration (Robinson 135). The morals of justice additionally differ from the morals of care since they consider reasons rather than an individual’s emotions and are keen on ensuring that justice prevails in all situations (Walls 178). The morals of justice also differ from the morals of ethics on the ground that the former focuses on the importance of mobilizing the social reso urces available in safeguarding the vulnerable people from exploitation from the people who are in power (Robinson 139). This is different from the morals of care which emphasize on the importance of shaping good and caring relations among individuals (Walls 179). Finally, the morals of justice stipulate that humans are dependent and are solely responsible for their actions but the morals of care stipulate that humans are relational and interdependent (Robinson 142). This implies that according to the morals of care humans rely on one another for moral support and that the relations between them play a vital role in their daily lives (Walls 183). The moral of justice approach differs from the morals of care approach since it can be used in... This essay basically expounds on Held’s views on the principles of care as the primary moral principle, valuing emotions in favor of reason and valuation of partiality rather than impartiality while focusing on private relationships as opposed to relationships in the public realm. The researcher of this essay also tries to ascertain whether people are relational and self-governing rather than being independent along with autonomous. According Virginia Held, the rights of humans begin with ethical responses to oppressions that have been experienced historically. She says that in â€Å"order for them to become operational they must be developed into institutional mechanisms that function effectively to mobilize social resources to protect the vulnerable†. Virginia Held also argues that the morals of care have a lot to talk about concerning moral relationships within the private spheres of the family along with their personal friends. Finally, Held perceives people as bein g â€Å"relational and interdependent, morally and epistemologically† just like the morals of responsibility. In conclusion, the father and mother should be made to account for their mistakes through the standards of care and justice that Virginia Held suggested. This is because they will greatly help in alleviating the emotional breakdowns that the children go through due to their behaviors. The approach I would prefer to be utilized in streamlining their activities is the moral of care as it considers the personal relationship between the individuals in question.

P and Q Inventory Management Systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

P and Q Inventory Management Systems - Essay Example The model also plays an important role in order to monitor the current ‘in-stock’ items and reduce the risk of ‘stock-out’ of the items (The McGraw-Hill Companies, 2011). The P system of inventory management possesses various similarities as well as dissimilarities to the Q system inventory model. The model is used to record the time in which the product or the item should be in stock and are ready to be employed. In this context, the monitoring and ordering processes are performed when the level of the items reduces to the minimum quantity. The items are ordered at certain intervals of time, for instance, in very specific day of a month or week. This process is often convenient while ordering a group of products at the same time (The McGraw-Hill Companies, 2011). According to the Q-system of inventory control, the order quantity of the items is fixed and the interval period of ordering depends on the level of reordering of the items. However, the reordering in the P-system is fixed and the quantity of ordering items varies in different review cycles. Continuous monitoring is speculated to be highly required in the Q-system of inventory control. On the other hand, the P-system of inventory control attempts to purchase inventory at a specified gap taking greater time for reviewing and recording the stocks in comparison to the Q system (Gopalakrishnan, 2004). Hence, the fundamental difference between the Q system and the P system can be identified as the treatment of highly demanded commodities (in case of Q system) and other goods (in case of P system). It has often been noted that inventory management not only reflects the efficiency of an organization in waste management or resource allocations but also exhibits its flexibility in dealing with alterations related to customer purchase behavior. As the process tends to operate to the coordination of

Critically assess how interprofessional collaboration is the key to Essay

Critically assess how interprofessional collaboration is the key to delivering modern health and social care services - Essay Example The complexity of human health which professionals face suggests the need for a reconstruction of how they conceptualize and create knowledge. Further, such knowledge can be deepened through a dialectical process of people reflecting and acting with others to both change and understand it (Gaventa & Cornwall, 2001). In this sense, interdisciplinary structure may allow health professionals to conduct studies and collaboration between them in a research process that would increase the quality of research outcomes. It has been argued that the strength of the inter-professional collaborative research group lies in the framework where contributions from a wide range of professional perspectives are incorporated into the research process (Bond & Thompson, 1996; Ryan & Hassel, 2001). Larson (2003) identified that successful collaborations would comprise a number of multi-professional teams. Similarly, Ryan and Hassell (2001) identified collaboration as the main characteristic of inter-profe ssional research and explained that collaboration across disciplines leads to the identification of health problems through the contribution of respective knowledge and experience from different professionals in a research process with open channels of communication and the absence of professional hierarchies. Drinka and Clark (2000) argued that professional differences between group members have been identified as the basic problem in regards to communication which is one of the most important elements of a successful inter-professional collaboration in research (Gelling & Chatfield, 2001). Poor inter-professional communication, including the system where information is misheard, misread and misunderstood, would break down the working relationship between professionals in groups and affect how professionals work collaboratively in the decision-making and knowledge-producing process. On the other hand, due to professional differences and distincts values and knowledge that each prof essional holds, every member knows less about each other and so it is easy to see the problem of unequal effort in their working relationship and the difficulties in building up a relationship of trust without mutual respect. The lack of trust would limit the sharing of responsibility or workload between professionals which seems inevitable and closely related to the entire research process. Group dynamics can also be a challenge and would distort collective discourse that may generate invalid understanding. As Bray et al. (2000) argued, defensive routines and groupthink would challenge the critical reflection process within the group and the ability to assess the situation from various experience and knowledge bases and build more wide-ranging and objective

Global Enterprise and Innovation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Global Enterprise and Innovation - Essay Example Sony Corporation restructured and realigned their U.S. business portfolio. The company also recorded gains related to the corporate restructuring improvements in operating results of their Devices and Financial services segments. Sony took measures to accelerate decision making and execution with management and across all departments, allowing Sony to be better equipped for the challenges of the industry. I think Sony has achieved a satisfactory outcome through their corporate restructuring efforts so far and creating new growth opportunities through acquisitions. In terms of future growth Sony will need to focus on their core electronics business (mobile, gaming, imaging) continued innovation, process improvement and providing cutting edge products that their customers need and want. Their operational focus will continue a key component in achieving continued profitability and financial growth for the company and their stakeholders. In general Sony can utilize the same operational philosophy can be used to improve operational results in all markets where it competes. It is imperative that the company achieve long-term results with their operational improvements and new business initiatives. Sony aims to achieve stable, repeatable, long-term improvements in their operations in order to determine the viability of any new business initiative, acquisition or process improvements. It is the goal of the company to achieve stable, repeatable and transferable operating results in order to achieve good operating results when entering new markets or operating

Assignment 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Assignment 4 - Essay Example Sign in to get into the classroom†. The student enters a login and selects an option from a drop down menu containing a list of subjects. Welcome to the year 2020, where students from all over the world take lessons together thanks to Internet. With new advancements in hypermedia and multimedia systems, students now can take lessons at their chosen time in a virtual classroom. They no longer need a teacher to take them through lessons as they learn independently, at their own pace, with technological assistance. Taking on the role of a trouble-shooter, a teacher steps in only when students encounter difficulties with a particular aspect of study. A learning activity in 2020 could very well be like this: A student clicks open a textbook and learn concepts through a variety of text, visual images and graphics. At the end of the chapter, a voice takes the student through a quick test, which has been designed by the teacher. The test will evaluate the student’s understanding and accordingly mark grades. In case of below-average grades, a link will direct the student to a â€Å"real† teacher who will then explain the concept through video conferencing. Thus a teacher operates behind the scenes and designs strategies instead of being a direct participant in the learning process. In such a scenario, advanced forms of Internet and the virtual reality systems form the dominating aspects in a learning process. The use of hypermedia and multimedia in project assignments will motivate students to study better and faster. Teachers, on the other hand, can keep a track of student’s progress by designing rubrics and other evaluation strategies. In a system where learning is more student-centric and students have the freedom to choose their subjects and pace, an assumption is made here that they are well equipped with the intelligence and the maturity to monitor their studies. This can be a hindrance in case of children with low levels of

248789_diversity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

248789_diversity - Essay Example not only includes the traditional categories of race and gender but also people with disabilities, gays & lesbians and other non-traditional categories considered having â€Å"diversity of thought† or those from the different disciplines, college degrees, socio-economic backgrounds etc. It was Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. who inspired the concept of diversity when he advocated that people should be judged by their character, not by the color of their skin. This propelled lawmakers to come up with laws that provide equal opportunity to all. (MOR BARAK, M. E., 2000) These laws have been designed protect anyone from being discriminated against by reason of sex, marital status, ethnic or national origin, color, race, nationality, age, disability, religion, and differing terms of employment, including pay for jobs of equal value. As of now, an escalating number of European firms are implementing diversity and equality strategies; not only for principled and legal reasons but also for the trade benefits they are anticipated to deliver. Amongst the most imperative of these benefits are enhanced employee recruitment and employee retention from a broad pool of superior quality workforce, better corporate icon and repute, better innovation and improved promotion opportunities. The term â€Å"Equal opportunity† refers to a situation where a person is entitled to equal access in society. â€Å"Equal opportunities approach† is premised on the principle that all people are eligible to avail certain rights or privileges like education, employment, health care or other welfare services without any discrimination or any preference. Different organizations now apply various equal opportunity practices which consist of a number of means adopted to provide fair conditions for all their members in the process of employment and work. (GILL KIRTON, A. M. G., 2000) This current trend of the embracing of diversity has given birth to the concept of â€Å"the inclusive

Representations of Gigantism in Art and Architecture Essay

Representations of Gigantism in Art and Architecture - Essay Example While the office of the Presidency was supposed to come with a great deal of prestige, it had far less privilege and entitlement associated with it than the inherited titles of royalty that were, in the early 1800’s, the most common form of government.  One word that is used to refer to a particular degree of size is â€Å"gigantic.†Ã‚   Small children use this word when they see blimps up close, or skyscrapers, or magical characters in cartoons.   Objects (and beings) of such excessive size are beheld at once with wonder and fear, a combination which sometimes is described with the word â€Å"awe.†Ã‚   There are several ways in which the concept of the gigantic can engage the senses.   As was referenced in the opening anecdote, there is always a sense of comparison that goes on in defining the gigantic – and this sense is always accompanied by a stark sense of contrast between the size of the viewer, and the normal objects with which the viewer is g enerally familiar, and the size of the object in question.   The idea does not have to refer to a static object, of course:   the ways in which the genie Aladdin assumes such gigantic proportions in the popular Disney movie has much more to do with the swirling, undulating motions that the genie makes, than with the actual size that the genie ends up having.   It can have to do with the scope of a story, not just the size of a particular painting’s frame. When it comes to architecture, the idea of the gigantic goes back almost as far as recorded human history itself.   The Old Testament refers.

Wilkerson Company Case Essay Example for Free

Wilkerson Company Case Essay 1. The Wilkerson Company is in the business of manufacturing valves, pumps and flow controllers. The company has been experiencing profit losses due to price reductions as a result of heavy competition in the pump category, which is considered a commodity product. In the valves category, Wilkerson seems to be a market leader with a loyal customer base. The valve business is less competitive, with no price reductions, and therefore the company has maintained its gross margin target while not compromising market share. Similarly to the valve business, the flow controller category is not as competitive as the pump industry, hence Wilkersons ability to increase price by 10% without sacrificing volume. In addition, the company needs to take into consideration its increase in indirect expenses relatively to the direct labor expenses. All in all, the company has seen its pre-tax margin decrease from 10% to 3%. 2. Adopting a periodic expense approach will severe the already current problems with Wilkersons cost system by distorting even more the actual cost picture. The reason is that the periodic method would ignore the companys product mix as each of the 3 categories has a differentiated direct cost structure. This would therefore create an even more incorrect analysis of the companys profit structure. Although the current cost allocating system is not optimal (as will be discussed later), it is still preferable over the periodic system, which does not take into account any overhead costs when analyzing product margins and the margins effect on the overall profit. 3. Today, Wilkerson uses a simple cost accounting system which charges each unit of product for direct material and labor cost. Material cost is based on the component price, while labor rates are charged to products based on the production run times of each product. Then, the overhead costs are allocated to each of the 3 products as a percentage of production run direct labor costs (currently 300%). 4. Table 1: Activity Based Costs Drivers and Rates Table 2: Calculations of product margins based on current method: Table 3: Calculations of product margins using proposed Activity Based Costing: The shifts in costs and profitability seen above are driven by all the factors that are not taken into account in the current cost allocation system: production runs, number of shipments and hours of engineering work. We believe that these factors are optimal for estimating the cost per product. For example, if we look at the flow controllers, we can see that they have the least machine hours but the highest values of all cost drivers mentioned above. This dramatic difference distorts the cost analysis and favors the flow controllers on the account of the valves and especially the pumps. 5. There are number of options to improve the companys profitability: * Flow Controller Price Increase: As described in the case, Wilkerson has recently raised flow controller prices by 10% without effect on volume. This leads us to believe that it would be possible to further increase prices in order to improve the products losing gross margin (-10%). * Flow Controller Cost Reduction: In addition to a possible price increase, Wilkerson must find a way to lower costs. This may be done by lowering the number of shipments (cost driver) to customers. According to the current agreements with customers, products are packaged and shipped for just-in-time delivery. This method substantially increases the number of shipments and packaging related expenses. This change can be successfully carried out by offering customers volume related discounts in order to decrease the total number of shipments by increasing the size of each shipment. The rationale behind this recommendation is that the cost driver is the number of shipments, rather than the size of each shipment. * Company Product Mix: Based on our profitability calculations for each category, Wilkerson can improve its total profit and profitability by changing its mix to favor valves rather than pumps. Moreover, there is room to consider reducing or even stopping the manufacturing of flow controllers. 6. Our concern regarding our cost estimates used in the previous sections is that the data in exhibits 1, 2, 4, used for all calculations, is based on a single month and does not necessarily reflect a typical month. A more accurate way to estimate cost would be to rely on a longer period of time (perhaps annual). In order to improve our cost and profitability estimates it would be helpful to have information regarding GA, Selling and Marketing cost drivers so we could allocate them directly to each product cost as well. Lastly, we assumed it possible to further increase flow controller prices without affecting the sales volume. It would be helpful to have more data regarding changes in prices and effect on their sales volume. 7. A number of changes may be made to the current compensation method in order to improve profit: * Higher compensation for sales of high profit margin products in order to improve sales mix as mentioned above. * Relative compensation to quantity of sale. This will also promote the goal of cost reduction as it will decrease the number of shipments.

Importance of the Handicraft Industry

Importance of the Handicraft Industry Introduction Handicrafts are unique expressions and represent a culture, tradition and heritage of a country. The Handicraft Industry is one of the important productive sector. Various attempts have been made to define this broad and diversified industry. The following definition strives to cover diversity and complexity of Handicraft Industry. Defining Handicrafts: Definition According to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization/Information Technology Community (UNESCO/ITC) International Symposium on Crafts and the International Market: Trade and Customs Codification, Manila, Philippines, October 1997:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Products which are produced either completely by hand or with the help of tools. Mechanical tools may be used as long as the direct manual contribution of the artisan remains the most substantial component of the finished product. Handicrafts are made from raw materials and can be produced in unlimited numbers. Such products can be utilitarian, aesthetic, artistic, creative, culturally attached, decorative, functional, traditional, religiously and socially symbolic and significant. Definition according to Govt. of India: Product which is made by hand; should have some artistic value; they may or may not have functional utility. The Importance of Handicrafts The Cultural Importance: Handicrafts play very important role in representing the culture and traditions of any country or region. Handicrafts are a substantial medium to preserve of rich traditional art, heritage and culture, traditional skills and talents which are associated with peoples lifestyle and history. The Economic Importance: Handicrafts are hugely important in terms of economic development. They provide ample opportunities for employment even with low capital investments and become a prominent medium for foreign earnings India is a country of rich culture, history and traditions. India is one of the major producer and supplier of Handicrafts products in the world. India has been major producer and supplier of handicrafts products since very long time. Before the industrial development, this art and industry was a potential economic advantage for the country. During recent years, the importance of handicrafts has been surged due to their cultural and financial values. The small scale industries including handicrafts can play a major role in the development of the economy of both developed and the developing countries equally. The 90-95% of the total industrial products of the world are produced in small workshops run by less than 100 people. For instance, Japan, which is at the peak of the economic development, has considered 84% of the its industries as small and medium scale industries. In countries such as India and China, handicrafts are as high as the mechanized products in quality and volume, and are a major source of their foreign earnings. These countries are focusing on the development of handicraft industry, in order to strengthen the economy. The Indian handicrafts industry is highly labor intensive, cottage based and decentralized industry. The industry is spread all over the country mainly in rural and urban areas. Most of the manufacturing units are located in rural and small towns, and there is huge market potential in all Indian cities and abroad. Handicraft industry is a major source of income for rural communities employing over six million artisans including a large number of women and people belonging to the weaker sections of the society. The Handicraft sector is highly creative sector and produces large variety of crafts products. This industry is localized segment of the domestic and international market. In India the production of craft products are done on both large and small scale. Because of low capital investment people can start their business on small scale. Through this flexibility the demand and supply can be managed. Though Indian Handicraft industry is considered a cottage industry, but it has evolved as one of the major revenue generator over the years. There has been consistent growth of 15% over few years and the industry has evolved as one of the major contributor for export and foreign revenue generation. There is huge demand for the Indian Handicraft products in both national and international market. To match the demand and supply with quality, there is need to have greater technological support and innovativeness with the uniqueness in industry. Key Facts Of Indian Handicrafts Industry Indias rich cultural diversity and heritage provides a unique and huge resource for developing craft products. The Indian Handicraft Industry is showing continuous growth rate of 20% every year. Handicrafts industry is one of the important segment of decentralized sector in India. Major parts of industry operates in rural and semi urban areas throughout the country and has potential Indian and International market with around 67000 exporters to tap the market. According to the national census of handicrafts, undertaken by the National Council for Applied Economic Research the value of handicrafts produced last year were of Rs.26,213 Crore. This Industry provides huge employment opportunities to artisans that include women and people belonging to backward and weaker society. This is one of the major source of income there. The Indian Handicraft Industry is a $100 billion industry worldwide. Indias contribution in world market is 1.2% The total exports of crafts items: Rs. 13412.92 Crore. Industrys share in Indias exports:- 1.51 % In spite of having diversified products, some part of Indian market are still untapped and market is price sensitive. Products are high priced in big and metro cities, which are beyond, reach of people belonging middle and lower middle class. Craft producers have to compete on price, quality and delivery for different segments. There is poor promotion for craft products in national market. There is lack of awareness about new traditions and among craftsmen and there is need of technological support and training. Classification Handicrafts industry comprises diversified products portfolio and there is large variety available in market. Handicrafts products can be distinguished into following: Metal ware, Wood ware, Hand printed textiles, Embroidered and crocheted goods, Shawls, Carpets, Bamboo products Zari goods, Imitation jewellery Paintings, Earthenware, Jute products, Marble Sculpture, Bronze Sculpture Leather Products and other miscellaneous handicrafts. Handicraft industry in India is spread throughout the country with greater concentration in rural and suburban areas of country. Metal ware and Bronze sculpture: Major Manufacturing units are located in Moradabad, Sambhal, Aligarh, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Delhi, Thanjavur, Jagadhari etc. Wooden artware and sculpture: Major Manufacturing units are located in Sharanpur, Nagina, Hoshiarpur, Srinagar, Amritsar, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bangalore, Mysore, Behrampur etc. Embroidered item: Manufacturing Units are located in Kutch, Jaisalmer, Baroda, Lucknow, Jodhpur, Agra, Amritsar, Kullu and Srinagar. Marble and soft stones crafts:Agra, Madras, Bastar and Jodhpur are famous for these craft products. Paper Crafts: These manufacturing units are located in places of Kashmir and Jaipur. Terracotta: Terracotta units are located in state of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Bastar. Hand printed textiles and scarves:Amroha, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Farrukhabad, Bagru and Sanganer consist of manufacturing units. Zari Products: Zari and zari products are manufactured at units located at Surat, Agra, Varanasi and Amritsar. Imitation Jewelry: Parts of Delhi, Moradabad, Sambhal, Jaipur and Kohima consist of manufacturing units for these jewelry products. Political View Industrial Policy: There are no restrictions regarding location for establishing manufacturing units. All producers of handicrafts are exempt from obtaining Industrial License to manufacture. The delicenced undertakings, however, are required to file an Industrial Entrepreneur Memoranda (IEM) in Part A with the Secretariat of Industrial Assistance (SIA), and obtain an acknowledgment. No further approval is required. Trade Policy: Handicraft products fall under the ITC (HS) code 97. Paintings, drawings and paintings, domestic articles of wood etc. which come under 9701 Original engravings falling under 9702 Original sculptures categorized under 9703 Products under the code 9704 are freely importable. Imports of items in 9705 are restricted. Characteristics of Indian Handicrafts for exports; as defined by Govt. of India are: They are quota free and neutral to fiber content or composition, barring 100% silk. They include Garments, Made-up and clothing accessories. Are produced in cottage industries. Should not have zippers. Must be ornamented using any one or more of the following Indian folk styles. Hand painting, Hand printing, Batik, Tie and Dye, Kalamkari. Hand embroidery, Crocheting. Appliquà © work of sequins, wooden or glass beads, shells, mirror, ornamental motifs of textiles materials. Extra wrap of welt ornamentation of silk, art silk or zari threads. Should conform to shape and styles of each item as defined in the agreed list of different countries. Should satisfy the dimensional aspects. Tariff-non-tariff Policy: Except for 9704, all the items under 97 attract a total import duty of 35.2 per cent. This includes a basic duty of 35 per cent and a special additional duty of four per cent. Items under 9704 do not attract any import duty. In India, handicrafts are distributed through following major Distribution Channels: Retailers/Direct Sales: This is the most common distribution channel for selling handicrafts in India. In India there are large number of retailers who provides wide range of handicrafts products. Wholesalers/Distributors: Apart from retail and direct sales channels, wholesalers and distributors also provide large range of handicraft products. Wholesalers can keep product stock in bulk and can sell direct to final consumer or retailer. E-Commerce: Internet has emerged as a one of the promising distribution channel for selling the handicrafts products. It is estimated that internet will be one of the major channel for the distribution of handicrafts products through E-Commerce. Export And Foreign Earnings Handicraft Industry has evolved as one of the major contributors for Export and foreign earnings: Exports of handicrafts including hand knitted carpets during 2005-06 were Rs.13412.92 Crore. Export items- Art Metal wares, Wood wares, Hand printed textiles, Embroidered and Crocheted goods, Shawls as art wares, Zari goods, Imitation jewelry, Carpets, Leather products, Jute products, Paintings, Bamboo products, Earthen ware, Marble Sculpture, Bronze Sculpture etc. Indias major export markets are USA, Germany, UK, France and Japan, Saudi Arabia, Canada, and Italy etc. Indian Handicraft Industry contributes very important role in Indian economy. For the proper functioning and operation of industry it is very essential to have some policies and regulation in place. In India, the Ministry Of Textile is responsible for the formulation of policy, planning, development, export promotion and regulation of the Handicraft Industry. There are several other bodies and organizations which help to formulate and execute these policies. All policies should be implemented for the greater development of the whole industry so that it can help to strengthen the economy. Industrial Policy: There are no restrictions regarding location for establishing manufacturing units. All producers of handicrafts are exempt from obtaining Industrial License to manufacture. The delicenced undertakings, however, are required to file an Industrial Entrepreneur Memoranda (IEM) in Part A with the Secretariat of Industrial Assistance (SIA), and obtain an acknowledgment. No further approval is required. Trade Policy: Handicraft products fall under the ITC (HS) code 97. Paintings, drawings and paintings, domestic articles of wood etc. which come under 9701 Original engravings falling under 9702 Original sculptures categorized under 9703 Products under the code 9704 are freely importable. Imports of items in 9705 are restricted. Characteristics of Indian Handicrafts for exports; as defined by Govt. of India are: They are quota free and neutral to fiber content or composition, barring 100% silk. They include Garments, Made-up and clothing accessories. Are produced in cottage industries. Should not have zippers. Must be ornamented using any one or more of the following Indian folk styles. Hand painting, Hand printing, Batik, Tie and Dye, Kalamkari. Hand embroidery, Crocheting. Appliquà © work of sequins, wooden or glass beads, shells, mirror, ornamental motifs of textiles materials. Extra wrap of welt ornamentation of silk, art silk or zari threads. Should conform to shape and styles of each item as defined in the agreed list of different countries. Should satisfy the dimensional aspects. Tariff-non-tariff Policy: Except for 9704, all the items under 97 attract a total import duty of 35.2 per cent. This includes a basic duty of 35 per cent and a special additional duty of four per cent. Items under 9704 do not attract any import duty. In India, handicrafts are distributed through following major Distribution Channels: Retailers/Direct Sales: This is the most common distribution channel for selling handicrafts in India. In India there are large number of retailers who provides wide range of handicrafts products. Wholesalers/Distributors: Apart from retail and direct sales channels, wholesalers and distributors also provide large range of handicraft products. Wholesalers can keep product stock in bulk and can sell direct to final consumer or retailer. E-Commerce: Internet has emerged as a one of the promising distribution channel for selling the handicrafts products. It is estimated that internet will be one of the major channel for the distribution of handicrafts products through E-Commerce. Easily availability on global basis and cost effective way has made Internet a good marketplace to buy, sell, and promote the products. Strengths: Large, diversified and potential market. There is large product variety and range is available because of diversified culture. It has strong, diversified and supportive retail infrastructure. Diversified product range that service different market. Cheap labor rates that result to competitive price. Need low capital investment. There is flexible production flexibility. Low barriers of new entry. Advantages and Critical Success Factors: Easy creation and development of production centers. There is no need for macro-investment. Industry provides potential sources of employment. Products are high value added, and handicrafts have various applications. It is the potential source of foreign revenue because of higher export. Weaknesses: Lack of infrastructure and communication facilities. Unawareness about international requirements and market. Lack of co-ordination between government bodies and private players. Inadequate information of new technology. Inadequate information of current market trends. Less interest of young people in craft industry. Lack of skilled labor. Still confined to rural areas and small cities and untapped market. Lack of promotion of products. Opportunities: Rising demand for handicraft products in developed countries such as USA, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy etc. Developing fashion industry requires handicrafts products. Development of sectors like Retail, Real Estate that offers great requirements of handicrafts products. Development of domestic and international tourism sector. e-Commerce and Internet are emerged as promissory distribution channels to market and sell the craft products. Threats: Competition in domestic market. Balance between high demand and supply. Quality products produced by competing countries like China, South Africa. Better Trade terms offered by competing countries. Increased and better technological support and RandD facility in competing countries. Inspite of having diversified products, some part of Indian market is still untapped and market is price sensitive. Products are high priced in big and metro cities, which are beyond the reach of people belonging middle and lower middle class. Craft producers have to compete on price, quality and delivery for different segments. There is poor promotion for craft products in national market. There is lack of awareness about new traditions and among craftsmen It is difficult to balance the cultural and commercial value of handicraft products. Inadequate supply chain management and distribution reduces the sectors commercial viability and economic sustainability. Lack of Technological support and training. Lack of Research and development for key handicraft sectors like, ceramics, paper making etc. There is shortage of skilled craftsmen and labor to match the competition. Lack of ability to produce in large scale and create economies of scale. Inadequate material testing and performance measurement. Inappropriate energy supplies to rural and sub-urban areas. Untapped and inaccessible market due to poor transportation infrastructure. There are inadequate training centers to develop skilled craftsmen The primary objective is to create an environment that helps the industry to compete on the global basis. To build the environment that will focus on: Wealth Creation, Infrastructure Development, Training, Technological Development, and Poverty Alleviation etc. to enhance the sector performance. Awareness should be increased among craftsmen and customers through Trade Events, Seminars, Craft Forums and advertisements. More training centers should be opened to provide proper training to craft persons. There should be more trade shows to facilitate craft producers to access the market. Transportation infrastructure should be improved to access the untapped market that would be beneficial to reduce the transportation cost. Promotion of cultural tradition and heritage. Promotion of Indian Tourism to attract the foreign customers. Developing technologies to recycle natural resources to produce new products and ensure waste minimization, product durability and reliability. Promoting Partnership and collaboration with private sector. There should be market platform for craft producers belonging to rural areas to market their products. Development of electronic platform by using internet to provide information, database, and marketing and distribution solution. Increased Private participation in industry. There should be optimized distribution network and supply chain management. Through improving labor productivity in a high labor intensive and price competitive market. There should be proper balance between cultural and commercial value of craft products to sustain business opportunities. Through using low cost production methods the sustainability of small business can be improved. By implementing following model, the performance of Handicraft Industry can be improved and the greater Value addition can be done: Identify the Potential Market Making Effective Business Plan and Refinement in existing business Test Marketing to test the initial potential of new products in market Effective Operational and Technological Upgradation Hiring skilled manpower, provide training and awareness about latest technology and market trends and effective management. Hiring skilled manpower, provide training and awareness about latest technology and market trends. Cost Effective Production, Maintain Quality Standards, and Packaging. Set the Costing and Pricing with Quality taken to be consideration Cost Effective Distribution Development using both Physical and Electronic Distribution Channels (Internet, e-Commerce) Both National and International Market Development for better Export and Foreign Revenue. All India Handicrafts Board: The All India Handicrafts Board was established in 1952 to suggest various solutions for improvement and development in Handicraft Industry. Formulation of Plans, Assistance to State Govt. for planning and execution of schemes, and providing assistance for Marketing, Financial, and Organizational aspects of Handicrafts Industry. State and Union Territories: Every State and Union territories has different department for the development of Handicrafts Industry. Marketing, Promotion, Financial Aid to Small Scale Industries, and other programs are the functions of State level corporations. Central Corporations: The Handicrafts and Hand looms Export Corporation of India: It was established in 1962. Exports Promotion, Development of potential market execution of Whole Sale and retail Orders are major functions of organization. The Central Cottage Industries Corporation Pvt. Ltd.: It is a registered society that runs Central Cottage Industries Emporium in New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai to sell the Handicrafts products. The All India Hand loom Fabrics Marketing Cooperative Society Ltd.: This Cooperative Society is supported and promoted by All India Hand loom Board. It has various hand loom emporiums in all metro cities, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad etc. and few branches in New York, Singapore etc. All India Organizations: All India Textile Handprinting Industries Federation: 1106 Prasad Chambers, Swadeshi Mill Estate, Mumbai, India. All India Federation of Zari Industry: Safe Deposit Chambers, Surat, Gujarat, India. All India Carpets Manufacturers Association: Post Box No. 63, Bhadohi, District Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. Export Promotion Organizations and Councils: The All India Handicrafts Board (West Block VII, R.K. Puram, New Delhi- 110022): This organization is responsible for Export Promotion, Market Development, and Arranging Exhibitions etc. The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (D-15, Commerce Centre, 4th Floor, Tardeo Road, Bombay- 400001): This Organization is responsible for the promotion of Jewellery, Diamond, Stones, Pearls craft of the country. The Handicrafts and Handlooms Export Corporation of India (Jawahar Vyapar Bhavan, Anex-I, Tolstoy Marg, New Delhi 110001: It is Govt. undertaking and responsible for exports efforts of private sector promote Indian Participation in International Exhibitions. The Handloom Export Promotion Council (123, Mount Road, Chennai- 600006): It works for the export promotion of Indian Handlooms in the country. The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade: It provides Training Courses and publishes various survey reports. The Trade Development Authority of India: (Bank of Baroda Building, 16 Parliament Street, New Delhi- 110001). The Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (Express Towers, 10th Floor, Nariman Point, Bombay-400001): It provides exports credit intelligence, covers against various risks. The Export Inspection Council (14/1-b Erza Street, World Trade Centre, Calcutta- 700001): It is responsible for Quality Control Issues, and Pre-shipment Act. The Federation of Indian Export Organization (Allahabad Bank Building, 17 Parliament Street, New Delhi-110001) The Trade Authority of India (Pragati Maidan, New Delhi-110001): It was started in 1977 and works for exports and trade promotion and development. The Indian Handicraft Industry stands a unique place among all other industries. It represents the rich culture, tradition and heritage of India. Indias rich cultural diversity and heritage provides a unique and huge resource for developing craft products. The Indian Handicraft Industry is showing continuous growth rate of 20% every year and it is one of the most important segment of decentralized sector in India. Most of the part of industry operates in rural and semi urban areas throughout the country and have large and potential in Indian International market. Indian Handicraft Industry provides wide range of products because of countrys diversified culture, traditions and heritage. There is huge demand of Indian Handicraft products in international market. Industry provides ample opportunities for employment to people belonging to backward and weaker classes of society. However, Indian Handicraft Industry has the status of cottage industry in India, but it has shown promising growth and evolved as one of the major revenue generator over the years. It has shown continuous growth at the rate of 15-20% over the years and contributes major role for export and foreign earnings. Low capital investment, Cheap and skilled labor, Diversified product portfolio, Flexible Production are few important features of Indian Handicraft Industry. However, Lack of Infrastructure Technological support, Lack of awareness of international and new trends and Poor Promotional campaigns are a few drawbacks of industry which needs to be overcome. It is estimated that Handicraft Industry in India is all set to grow with rapid rate in future and contribute its share towards economic development handsomely. The model so called Model 5 forces developed by Michael E. Porter is the one used mostly among many authors who try to recognize industry in which there is manufactures. These Five Forces Analysis or Porters model of competitors forces is often used with PEST analysis to determine a position and possibilities on a market: strength of competition among manufactures that operates within fashion industry sophisticated technology, highly qualified personnel, greater capital for buying modern sewing machines (CAD/CAM) and positive influence of market growth, existence of other producers of garments who are ready to enter a market, investment in technology and development, emotional connection with fashion industry and an easy strategic movement ahead, customers start to change fashion products sophisticated technology, necessary training of personnel and on the other side global accessibility of some products by internet, consumers negotiation ability -a large demand and sophisticated technology and suppliers negotiation ability sufficient great and growing market and a global access by internet. Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The problem that exists in our garment industry is that we analyze and follow trends that have already taken place on the fashion scene so while a collection is being accepted and the preparation for production is getting completed a new fashion demand is here, and the old one hasnt got accustomed yet. Fashion companies that do not invest in the development of products and production technology get into danger and cant keep place with fashion trend although they try hard. Markets researches, consumers wishes, requests, and criterium mean inevitable and dominant task for a producer of garments, because by obtaining all these information a production can be directed, business planned with advanced defined aims and strategies. Marketing enables greater flexibility and better organisation for more successful reaction to market demands. Market analyses are perhaps difficult procedures for fashion industry, because they need time to see strong sides and opportunities although they are too eager to identify weaknesses and threats. It is important to be aware that once when weaknesses are identified, some steps to change them can be taken by training, so there is possibility to make it a strong side. Thats why SSC and SWOT are useful techniques used to find out strong and weak points in a fashion industry. The way Levi Strauss Company succeeded by their own efforts to impose a new product LEVIS ENGINEERED JEANS (redesigned denim trousers that follow contour of a body ergonomically), it is an example how to use BCG matrix and GAP analysis that show us how market methods and techniques can be also used in our garment industry in order to meet demands of flexible production. Retailers in India have already started the concept of co-branded credit cards. A current example would be the aggressive salesperson in any Spencers store showcasing the HSBC-Spencers offering. Another vivid example would be the Future Group credit card which had TV ads across channels for quite some time. The response though had been lukewarm. With organized retail sales looking downward over the last year, especially in Q3 and Q4 of 2008-09, these offering had disappeared from the table. But, Q1 Q2 of 2009-10 have been particularly good, with around 15% growth in the sector on the back of a successful festive season. The new buzz word that is coming up in Retail circles is the Gift card, which is basically gift vouchers/certificates in the form of smart cards. They will be profitable for retailers as it will breed loyalty through repeat purchases. There will also be a significant portion of card value (10% in America: Economist) which are never redeemed. Retailers in India are still nascent when it comes to maintaining a comprehensive customer database, and this will be a small, yet significant step towards the same. The future for gift cards will yield many innovatively packaged offerings similar to the trends in America. A few examples from the Economist: Target: Gift cards that double as wind-up toys Gift cards through email Best Buy: multiple people can contribute small amounts for